Angel investors back asthma meds dispenser

Friday

Apr 12, 2013 at 2:00 AM

JACKSONVILLE — Lessons learned from a Central Oregon angel investor conference last fall paid off to the tune of $220,000 Thursday for a Bend firm that has developed a dispenser to administer medicine for children with asthma.

By Greg Stiles

JACKSONVILLE — Lessons learned from a Central Oregon angel investor conference last fall paid off to the tune of $220,000 Thursday for a Bend firm that has developed a dispenser to administer medicine for children with asthma.

JettStream walked off with the money in the third annual Southern Oregon Angel Investment Conference competition after coming up just short in a similar competition in Bend last October.

"Any time you go through a due diligence you get feedback that's nice to hear. But all those nice things, you don't learn anything from that," said Sarah Cota, who cofounded the company while searching for a better way treat her son Jett's asthma. "It's the hard questions that challenge you and how you fill those holes in your strategy that help you."

The company has developed a non-intrusive dispenser for nebulized medications for children of all ages with asthma and chronic breathing ailments. The medicine is administered while the child is sleeping, so there isn't the urge to pull off the mask.

Cota told investors and other conference attendees at the Bigham Knoll Events Center she took Jett to the emergency room 18 times before introducing the prototype.

"He's our guinea pig," Cota says."Since we began using the prototype we haven't had to take Jett to the emergency room."

In preparing for investors, the company's pitch has gotten more targeted, she said.

"We were a finalist in Bend," Cota said. "We learned we had to refine our message, describe what our target was and focus on staying focused."

In the interim, Cota said she pushed hard to form partnerships with medical industry people and get customer feedback.

"We needed to bring in the right advisers," she said.

The 2-year-old Central Oregon company has patients signed up for clinical trials at St. Charles hospital in Bend. Trials have been launched overseas, as well. The company has raised $200,000 already through a convertible note and plans to raise an additional $550,000.

Proceeds from the investment will go to research studies, tooling production, marketing and working capital.

"This gets us all the way to market," she said.

JettPaks cost $200 and the corresponding Jett Utilities are priced at $45.

Parents need to be in the room with children while they are taking the treatment. The approach "takes the fight out of the treatment," Cota said, assuring effectiveness.

The company has six employees in downtown Bend. "We will be able to hire more people now and begin paying some of the people who have been working for free," Cota said.

The first two angel investment winners in 2011 and 2012 were from Ashland.

"Of the 52 unique investors participating in three angel LLCs, nine have participated in all three rounds," said the conference's founder, Steve Vincent. "The 30 percent turnover is standard for angel groups."

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or business@mailtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregMTBusiness, and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/Economic Edge.

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